Bye, bye Igor!

The sad story in Vilnius took a logical step as Igor Milosevic has been reported to be leaving Lietuvos Rytas. The 24-year-old Serbian guard was the bookie’s favorite to be dropped from the team after Šarūnas Jasikevičius was brought in as an act of desperation following a truly abysmal start of the season for the Lithuanian champions.

With three other point guards — Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Khalid El-Amin, Jerry Johnson — on the team, it was inevitable that Lietuvos Rytas had to say the goodbyes to one of them. Jasikevičius and El-Amin joined the Vilnius squad only in mid-season, so Jerry Johnson, who is recovering from an Achilles injury and is bound to make the return soon, was the only other reasonable option.

To be frank, I think this was the right decision. Milosevic was brought in as a replacement for Bojan Popovic, after the latter was shipped to Efes Pilsen Istanbul with Rytas’ journey in Europe ending already after the group stages in Euroleague, the likely scenario for this year as well.

Johnson was one of the few bright spots in Lietuvos Rytas game early on in the season. Not spectacular, but decent enough to stand out in the below-average lineup. However, the worrying thing might be the fact that JJ has just returned from the injury.

Time will tell, whether it was the right choice. My guts say it is. They also say that this will not impact the downward spiral, on which Rytas has gone after winning the Lithuanian championship last year…